Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Richard of Cornwall (January 5, 1209 - April 2, 1272) was Count of Poitou (from 1225 to 1243), 1st Earl of Cornwall (from 1225) and German King (formally "King of the Romans", from 1257). One of the wealthiest men in Europe, he also joined the Sixth Crusade, where he acheived success as a negotiator for the release of prisoners, and assisted with the building of the citadel in Ascalon. 'Early Life' He was born on January 5, 1209 at [[Winchester Castle|'Winchester Castle']], the second son of King [[John of England|'John']] and Isabella of Angouleme. He was made High Sheriff of Berkshire at the age of only eight, was styled Count of Poitou from 1225 and in the same year, at the age of sixteen, his brother King [[Henry III of England|'Henry III']] gave him Cornwall as a birthday present. Richard's revenues from Cornwall provided him with great wealth, and he became one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Though he campaigned on King Henry's behalf in Poitou and Brittany, and served as Regent three times, relations were often strained between the brothers in the early years of Henry's reign. Richard rebelled against him three times, and had to be bought off with lavish gifts. As the second son of King John, he had to wait to be crowned as King. 'Marriage to Isabel, 1231-1240' In March 1231, he married [[Isabel Marshall|'Isabel Marshall']], the wealthy widow of the [[Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester|'Earl of Gloucester']], much to the displeasure of his brother King Henry, who feared the Marshal family because they were rich, influential, and often opposed him. Richard became stepfather to Isabel's six children from her first husband. In that same year he acquired his main residence, [[Wallingford Castle|'Wallingford Castle']] in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), and spent much money on developing it. He had other favored properties at Marlow and Cippenham in Buckinghamshire. Isabel and Richard had four children, of whom only their son, [[Henry of Almain|'Henry of Almain']], survived to adulthood. Richard opposed [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|'Simon de Montfort']], and rose in rebellion in 1238 to protest against the marriage of his sister, [[Eleanor of Leicester|'Eleanor']], to Simon. Once again he was placated with rich gifts. When Isabel was on her deathbed in 1240, she asked to be buried next to her first husband at Tewkesbury, but Richard had her interred at Bealieu Abbey instead. As a pious gesture, however, he sent her heart to Tewkesbury. 'On Crusade and Marriage to Sanchia, 1240-1243' Later that year Richard departed for the Holy Land. He fought in no battles but managed to negotiate for the release of prisoners and the burials of Crusaders killed at a battle in Gaza in 1239. He also refortified Ascalon, which had been demolished by Saladin. On his return from the Holy Land, Richard visited his sister [[Isabella of England|'Isabella']], the empress of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|'Frederick II']]. Shortly after his return on January 28, 1242, King Henry and his wife Eleanor brought up the idea of a marriage with Eleanor's sister [[Sanchia of Provence|'Sanchia']]. On his journey to the Holy Land, Richard had met her in the Provence, where he was warmly welcomed by her father [[Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence|'Ramon Berenguer']] and had fallen in love with this beautiful girl. Richard and Sanchia (who the English called Cynthia) married at Westminster in November 1243. This marriage tied him even more closely to the royal party. 'Poitou and Sicily' Richard's claims to Gascony and Poitou were never mor than nominal, and in 1241 King [[Louis IX of France|'Louis IX of France']] invested his own brother Alfonso 'with Poitou. Moreover, Richard and Henry's mother, Isabella of Angouleme, claimed to have been insulted by the French king. They were encouraged to recover Poitou by their stepfather, [[Hugh X of Lusignan|'Hugh X of Lusignan]], but the expedition turned into a military fiasco after Lusignan betrayed them. The pope offered Richard the crown of Sicily, but according to Matthew Paris he responded to the extortionate price by saying, "You might as well say, 'I make you a present of the moon - step up to the sky and take it down'." Instead, his brother King Henry purchased the kingdom for his own son [[Edmund Crouchback|'Edmund']]. 'Elected King of Germany, 1256' Although Richard was elected in 1256 as King of Germany by four of the seven German Electoral Princes (Cologne, Mainz, the Palatinate and Bohemia), his candidacy was opposed by [[Alfonso X of Castile|'Alfonso X of Castile']] who was elected by Saxony, Bradenburg and Trier. The pope and king Louis IX of France favored Alfonso, but both were ultimately convinced by the powerful relatives of Richard's sister in law, [[Eleanor of Provence|'Eleanor of Provence']], 'to support Ricahrd. Ottokar II of Bohemia, who at first voted for Richard but later elected Alfonso, eventually agreed to support the earl of Cornwall, thus establishing the required simply majority. So Richard only had to bribe four of them, but this came at a huge cost of 28,000 marks. On May 27, 1257 the archbishop of Cologne himself crowned Richard "King of the Romans" in Aachen; however, like his lordships in Gascony and Poitou, his title never held much significance, and he made only four brief visits to Germany between 1257 and 1269. 'Later Life, Death and Successors He founded Burnham Abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1263, and the Grashaus, Aachen in 1266. He joined King Henry in fighting against Simon de Montfort's rebels in the [[Second Barons' War|'Second Barons' War']] (1264-67). After the shattering royalist defeat at the [[Battle of Lewes|'Battle of Lewes']], Richard took refuge in a windmill, was discovered, and imprisoned until September 1265. In December 1271, he had a stroke. His right side was paralyzed and he lost the ability to speak. On April 2, 1272, Richard died at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire. He was buried next to his second wife Sanchia of Provence and Henry of Almain, his son by his first wife, at Hailes Abbey, which he had founded. After his death, a power struggle ensued in Germany, which only ended in 1273 by the emergence of a new Roman King, [[Rudolph I of Germany|'Rudolph I of Habsburg']], the first scion of a long lasting noble family to rule the empire. In Cornwall, Richard was succeeded by [[Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall|'Edmund']], son of his second wife Sanchia. 'Marriage and Issue' He married three times: Firstly, on March 30, 1231, at St. Mary's Church at Fawley in Buckinghamshire, to [[Isabel Marshal|'Isabel Marshal']], widow of [[Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester|'Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford']], and daughter of [[William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke|'William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke']]. She died in childbed on January 17, 1240. Isabel bore him four children: *'John of Cornwall' - (January 31, 1232 - September 22, 1233) born and died at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, buried at Reading Abbey. *'Isabella of Cornwall' - (September 9, 1233 - October 10, 1234) born and died at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, buried at Reading Abbey. *[[Henry of Almain|'Henry of Almain']] - (November 2, 1235 - March 13, 1271) murdered by his cousins Guy and [[Simon VI de Montfort|'Simon de Montfort']], buried at Hailes Abbey. *'Nicholas of Cornwall' - (born and died on January 17, 1240) died shortly after birth, buried at Beaulieu Abbey with his mother. Secondly, on November 23, 1243, at Westminster Abbey, to [[Sanchia of Provence|'Sanchia']], daughter of Raymond Berenguer IV, Count of Provence. She died on November 9, 1261. Sanchia and Richard had three sons: *[[Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall|'Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall']] - (1249 - 1300) he died childless. *'Richard Cornwall -' infant who died within a month of his birth. *'Richard of Cornwall' - (1252 - 1296) who married John Saint Owen (born 1260) and had children. He, however, died at the siege of Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1296. Thirdly, on June 16, 1269, at Kaiserslautern, to Beatrice of Falkenburg, daughter of Dietrich I, Count of Falconburg. There were no children. She was aged about sixteen to Richard's sixty, and was said to be one of the most beautiful women of her time. Beatrice died on October 17, 1277 and was buried at the Church of the Friars Minor in Oxford. Richard had the reputation of being a womanizer. His mistress, Joan de Valletort, was certainly the mother of at least two of his illegitimate children: *'Philip of Cornwall' - a cleric in 1248. *'Joan of Cornwall' - (born in 1258) *'Walter of Cornwall' - granted lands by his half-brother Edmund, and died in 1313. Category:House of Plantagenet Category:Ancestors in 13th Century Category:English Nobility Category:English Ancestors